In 1953, Joseph Alsop, then one of America’s leading syndicated columnists, went to the Philippines to cover an election. He did not go because he was asked to do so by his syndicate. He did not go because he was asked to do so by the newspapers that printed his column. He went at the request of the CIA.
Alsop is one of more than 400 American journalists who in the past twenty‑five years have secretly carried out assignments for the Central Intelligence Agency, according to documents on file at CIA headquarters.
The history of the CIA’s involvement with the American press continues to be shrouded by an official policy of obfuscation and deception.
– From Carl Bernstein’s 1977 article: The CIA and the Media
What is art, when the artist is working with the host government to promote a particular message?
It is propaganda, and just because it’s your government doing it with the help of your friends and neighbors, doesn’t make it any less so. Even if you agree with the message, it is still propaganda. No wonder so many movies suck.
Today, we learn that both HBO and Snapchat are actively working with the U.S. State Department to push an anti-ISIS message. Again, even if the message is a good one, make no mistake about it, it is still propaganda. This is a very slippery slope, and something that Americans shouldn’t tolerate.
The State Department is seeking a counter-narrative to the propaganda being spread by ISIS, and it is reportedly turning to some of America’s preeminent storytellers for help. According to The Daily Beast, executives from both HBO and Snapchat are part of a team of filmmakers and social media specialists that’s brainstorming how to hamper the effectiveness of ISIL’s messaging.
Notice that when ISIS does it, it’s propaganda, but when the U.S. government does it, it’s a “counter-narrative.”
Citing unnamed industry and government sources, The Daily Beast reports that HBO and Snapchat representatives were invited to Sunnylands, a California retreat known for hosting important government figures, in June to meet with State officials on how best to counter the ISIS narrative, which has lured young men from the Middle East, Europe, and even the United States, to join its violent ranks. Mark Boal, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Zero Dark Thirty, is reportedly part of the team assisting the State Department.
Ah, Zero Dark Thirty. Where have we hear about that before? Oh yeah…
Remember Zero Dark Thirty? Turns Out it was a CIA Propaganda Film After All
Now back to the National Journal:
Neither HBO nor Snapchat have responded to requests for comment. The State Department, in a statement to Quartz, neither confirmed nor denied the Daily Beastreport but noted that film “is an especially powerful medium for building crosscultural understanding” of world issues. It also said:
Through film, music, and the visual and performing arts, cultural diplomacy helps us make global connections with audiences that are traditionally harder to reach. By supporting creative expression, we help the development of civil society, promote positive role models, and amplify alternative voices. ”
Reread that paragraph from the State Department. Now read it again. I don’t think I could come up with a better definition of government propaganda if I tried.
Finally…
According to The Daily Beast, the U.S. now wants to connect “influential Hollywood figures” with Middle Eastern filmmakers, to promote powerful stories of young people in the Middle East who have rejected ISIS’s reign of terror and are actively working to make the region a better place to live.
Here’s a better suggestion for the U.S. State Department: Stop creating terrorist groups in the first place. And yes, the U.S. government is largely responsible for creating ISIS, as we learned in the following post:
Additional Details Emerge on How U.S. Government Policy Created, Armed, Supported and Funded ISIS
Thanks for playing.
In Liberty,
Michael Krieger
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Lighten up, Mike. They’re just keeping us safe.
“Safe” from whom? Some imagined phony made up enemy? An enemy created by the government, in order to justify some government objective. Or to justify insider money scamming from government security measures or arms spending. Think of Rumsfeld “The Soviets have weapons that are so sophisticated, we don’t even know about them”. Or Rumsfeld on the day before 911: “We lost X Trillion Dollars, and we don’t know where it is”.
He’s being sarcastic.
Great Piece
I know it’s been posted already but this is Jim Carrey completely agreeing with the author of this article…thanks
http://www.riseearth.com/2014/11/jim-carrey-unleashes-secrets-of.html
“Even if you agree with the message, it is still propaganda. No wonder so many movies suck.” Great article. SPOT ON.
vice magazine is excellent propoganda . it works so much better than most. how? the peopel who watch it think it is real and ‘progressive’.
the second they took big HBO money they stopped being an honest purveyor of news. 500 million buys a lot of happiness. can you blame the brooklyn cokeheads for selling out?
So True, Otrovsky’s or whatever his name is, his coverage of the Ukraine was is about the saddest excuse of propaganda I’ve ever seen…Completely one sided….Come to think about it, Ive had many issues with their one sidedness…
Here’s Jim Carrey explaining it better than anyone..
http://www.riseearth.com/2014/11/jim-carrey-unleashes-secrets-of.html
This is an excellent observation.
VICE news did a few seasons of TRUTH, and as soon as HBO bought it (500 million), the newszine has gone totally overboard liberal.
I used to watch VICE news to learn stuff in it’s first few seasons, and I did, but now I watch it to see what kind of slick propaganda Shane Smith and Bill Maher are trying to shove down stupid people’s cerebellums.
The stories have become so lopsided and full of information that they truly classify as pure propaganda.
You literally have to go to Breitbart in order to get the information missing from virtually every important story in America.
VICE news is no longer a trusted source, Shane Smith did very well for himself, and he sold out as fast as he possibly could.
Which only means one thing, we await the next guy who is willing to buck the Fake News and actually tell the truth, and then VICE is dead.
In the meantime, I skim through VICE episodes now and am mildly entertained because they have a slick show, but I don’t take in their commentary and almost always have to hit FF x2 whenever they dip too heavily into fake news, which is almost always on domestic issues.
overall it is a shame about VICE news, as I really thought they could be the one to expose the fraud going on in media. Half a billion dollars is just too much to stay honest though. Shame Smith has sold out. His name is worthless now to anyone with a brain
Ha! The Daily Beast is just another pipe on the Mighty Wurlitzer, so they should know.
BTW, did Carl Berstein ‘out’ his Naval Intelligence partner, Bob Woodward in his book?
Whistle blower Thomas Drake says “Governing Media” when he refers to corporate media.
When I was in middle school, 7th and 8th grade, my school ran a an experimental “propoganda” program. TVs were installed in every classroom and every morning we got BS whitewashed news..The main reporter for this “Channel 1,” the news program for 11 year olds, was Anderson Cooper…I knew even back then that something was up and low and behold look how “popular” Anderson Cooper has become…I guarantee he’s working with the “three letter” guys. -That was 22 years ago BTW-
Most Americans don’t believe a word Cooper says, and he knows it.
But, big salaries buy a lot of mental peace.